Timber or log buoy



UN TED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY e. CADY, on PINE BLUFF, ARKANSAS.

- TIMBER OR LOG BUOY.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 598,978, dated February 15, 1898. Application filed August 11,1897. semi No. 647,802. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY G. OADY, of Pine Blufi, in the county of Jefferson and State of Arkansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Timber or Log Buoys; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. This invention relates to log-buoys.

The'object of the invention is to provide a simple and economical float or buoy to be attached to or connected with heavy lumber or timber so as to cause it to float.

Hitherto in practice heavy and light lumber have been mixed together to form a raft,

so that the light timber would assist in carryin g or floating the heavy timber, and in this way valuable timber or lumber has been floated orrafted to market. Another way of transporting heavylumber to market has consisted in boring or tapping the ends of logs to form an air-space and then plugging said ends. Both these processes or plans of handling lumber are objectionable and expensive.

My invention consists" in the application to the end of logs of a raft of a simple air-chamber or buoy consisting of an arched or curved plate, a straight or flat plate for attachment or'connection with the log, and an internal brace for supporting and sustaining the curved plate against pressure and shock.

In the drawings formingv part of this specification, Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the application of my invention to a log. Fig. 2 is a sectional view through the float and adjoining end of the log to which it is attached.

Referring more particularly to said draw ings, A designates the main plate or shell of the float, which, as shown, is concavo-con-vex and formed at its edge with an outwardlyprojecting flange a. Closing the open end of this shell is a disk or plate B, intimately connected to the flange a by solder or otherwise and forming with the main plate or shell a semispherical hollow body that is positively water-tight and of light construction to provide'an effective buoy that will assist in floating the log to which it is attached. In order to strengthen the hollow body or buoy to aid in preventing its becoming crushed by contact with an object, I provide an internal wooden brace or pillar 0, extending diametrically from one plate to the other, as shown, and secured in place preferably by means of nails 0. The flange which surrounds the buoy or hollow body is of increased thickness on 1 account of the connected plates A and B and is provided with apertures, through which pass nails d, that enter the end of the log and secure the float or buoy thereto.

My invention is designed to be applied to the ends of logs which have become watersoaked or fail to properly float from any other cause, and when applied will assist the buoyancyof the log without adding materially to its bulk. It is also apparent that when the float or buoy has served its purpose in connection with one log it can be readily removed and forwarded back to be again used upon a second log, and so on, there being no occasion for wear unless possibly it becomes indented by striking objects on its way downstream. In removing the float or buoy it is pried 0E by-inserting a suitable tool beneath the flange through which the retaining-nails pass.

From-the foregoing description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, it is obvious that the device, besides providing an efiective means for adding to the buoyancy of logs in rafting them, also possesses the further advantage of being simple and cheap in construction.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A float or buoy for logs, comprising a hollow body presenting a water-tight chamber and having a projecting flange, means engaging the flange and log to which the device is applied, and a brace for the outer por- .tion of the hollowbod y, substantially as shown and described.

2. A float or buoy for logs, comprising-a shell or coucavo-convex plate having a sur rounding flange, a disk intimately connected to the aforesaid plate or shell and forming specification in the presence of two subscribtherewith a semispherical hollow body, a reing witnesses.

inforcing-pillar extending centrally from one HENRY G GADY plate to the other, and means for securing the 5 buoy or float upon the log, as herein shown Witnesses:

and described. S. T. SOLLER,

In testimony whereof I have signed this W. H. GRACE. 

